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I am busted. Someone figured out that I made this over a week ago and have been holding out on you and called me out on it. Guilty as charged. I know nobody will believe me, but I swear, sometimes I just come up blank. I keep trying to figure out how I can convince you that you should make this now, right now, but I’m having a hard time. It’s January, after all, the month of absolving (oneself of having eaten a lot bacon) and resolving (to stop eating so much bacon), and I suspect that the last thing people want to be taunted with is a homemade pizza, creamy tangy base, lightly caramelized onions and thick crunchy salty smoky-sweet — that’s right — bacon lardons. Plus, we think this goes best with a generous glass of crisp white wine.

All of which isn’t very “January” of me, and truthfully, I’d intended to squeeze this recipe in right before New Years, as tiny flatbreads for a cocktail party, for people like me who always forget to eat dinner before we go to a party but feel kind of terrible when we eat nothing but tortilla chips, salsa, various cheeses on crackers and cocktails for dinner. Mini-dinner food is the answer. But New Years was a blur and a few days into January I realized I had slab bacon and crème fraîche on the decine in my fridge. One should never let either go to waste.

When I got to work on these little pizzas, however, I quickly remembered why I love this dish so much, and can rarely resist it on a restaurant menu. While its ingredient list is nothing but heavy, rich things, it manages to go easy on all of them. With a glass of wine (ahem, or sippy cup of water for Rocket Boy) and an ample green salad, maybe with a few of these on the side, it never feels like a heavy meal, just a welcome one.

The richness of the creamy cheese against the faint sweetness of the onions, the crunch of the crust and a smoky salty bacon finish is what makes this dish. This dish goes by everything from flammekueche (Alsatian), Flammkuchen (German) to tarte flambée; the flame is in reference to the ovens that would bake it, so hot that it would char the edges of the crust. It is sometimes made with crème fraîche, other times with fromage blanc (which is like quark, or even a fat-free cream cheese) but I liked this version, with both but the suggested swaps of the more accessible ricotta and sour cream. The onions are not always cooked first, but I like them lightly caramelized. It’s often rolled into a square or rectangle, but I can’t be bothered to make pizza into any shape other than round-ish blobs. Um, it’s “rustic”!

As for the pizza dough, if you’ve got a recipe you like or a storebought one that saves you drama, use it. If you want to make a new one, my Really Simple Pizza Dough will yield about a 10-ounce dough, or 2 ounces extra and I will not tell a soul if you make a tiny Nutella-filled dessert calzone with the extra. Pinky swear.

Serves 4 for a light dinner with a salad; can be divided to 8 appetizer portions or 16 tiny party portions

Preheat oven to 450°F. In a medium skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon crisps up. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Add onion to skillet and cook until softened and beginning to caramelize, an amount of time I forgot to write down but would estimate at 7 to 10 minutes.

Whisk together (or blend together in a food processor, if you want it silky-smooth) fromage blanc and crème fraîche with flour, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece out to a rough 8-inch round, about 1/8 inch thick. If the dough becomes difficult to roll, let it rest for 10 minutes, then continue.

Oil two large baking sheets. Transfer two dough rounds to each. Spread the fromage blanc mixture over the rounds to within 1/4 inch of the edge. Sprinkle with the bacon and onion. Bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for about 12 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Cut into wedges and serve.

You don’t need a pizza stone. It improves crust but it’s not like you can’t have great pizza without it. I’ve had several over the years and they’ve all eventually broken on the wobbly racks in my cheap oven. I still make great pizza without them.

That looks absolutely delicious. Dangerously so!! I haven’t ever bothered to make my own pizza dough but this may well be the catalyst! I’m a sucker for pizza bianca – potatoes, chili and rosemary is my all time favourite, but it may have to move over!

My husband and I have been making homemade pizza at least once a week since we got married about six months ago and not once has it occurred to us to lay off all the mozzarella cheese and try something like this. I’m looking forward to giving it a shot this week! (I have no problem with bacon in January!)

Woo hoo! Glad you finally posted it, Deb :) After only light prodding, too! Seriously though, bacon? Cheese? Bread? Why do you have to do anything to convince people to make it? It sells itself. This is so very similar to “Flammbrot” that I had at the Christmas Markets in Munich a few years ago so I’m super-excited to try making them for myself. One sub I might make is to use chopped chives instead of the caramelized onions. And I might try some soft goat cheese…

YUM! I have been trapped in my apartment all week due to the uncommon southern snowpocalypse, and THIS, this looks like exactly what I need to warm my belly. I think I shall venture out tomorrow to get provisions to make it!

I was in Alsace with my sweethearts family for Christmas; and we went to a tiny village restaurant for tarte flambée (: Most of the variations on the menu may have been sampled {: Apple and cinnamon is also really good.

Now that I’ve started weight watchers and look at food as merely a points value, I can’t even begin to calculate how many points this would be. Good thing there’s a recipe tracker that will calculate it for me, but I dare not even look! Maybe next year, but only in moderation. That boy of yours! Oh how I love his picture in every post! Does he ever take a bad photo? Of course not!

Resolutions are made to be broken, right? My wife and I have pizza night every other week or so, and now I’ve got a new set of toppings to break up the monotany. Never would have dawned on me to use crème fraiche or sour cream on top of a pizza. Gotta go get me some double smoked bacon soon!

I just broke my Pampered Chef pizza stone, but they have a very generous warranty, which means that I’ll be getting a brand new one in the mail soon, after sending them a teeny piece of the broken stone. And thank you for yet another yummy pizza idea!

GREAT idea to use tiles as pizza stones. I am not a huge pizza fan, but this one has everything I love about food. The onions have to add that sweetness to just make it all sing in your mouth.
As always, thank you, Deb.

Yum! I’ve never heard of this pizza before (and I even used to live in Germany — must have missed this one!), and though not exactly diet food as you mentioned, would be a welcome change from the usual. Thanks!

I find it hilarious that in one tab I’m reading about dietary cleanses because I know my body is out of whack, and in another tab I’m reading this. Hm… I wonder which will win out in the battle of my mind! (I’ll give you three guesses…)

I look for any new way to add more bacon to my diet. Once I finally get over this stupid strep throat, I will totally make this. I love making pizza, and use your pizza dough recipe for all my pizza dough.

looks absolutely delicious as usual! I’m a huge fan of bacon when it’s done right – thick cut, so there’s still some chew to it – and this is definitely done right! i like my onions a little more caramelized but i’m excited to taste the combo, esp with delicious creme fraiche! looks delicious!

I am sorry to ask about the bacon, but do you go to the butcher and as for thick slices or are finding it in the package. I cannot seem to find it that thick in regular pre-packaged bacon. Many thanks.

We make pizza every single friday ala AVM and we’re doing a year of pizza recipes and putting together a zine or e-book or something next summer (we’re calling it a year of pizza! hahah!)
Anyway, we’re near week 20 and i’m getting stressed out! how can i have so many different pizza recipes? so this one has inspired me to KEEP GOING (what a task).

Hey, that’s a specialty from my region (Alsace, France)! As some other comments already mentioned, we call it “tarte flambée”, or “Flammenkuche” in the local dialect… the only difference with that recipe is that the dough that is being used for “tarte flambée” is not a pizza dough, but one without yeast that you have to spread really thin. This “tarte” was traditionally cooked in the same oven than the bread, in just 4 or 5 minutes… in restaurants, it is served on a simple wooden plate in the middle of the table, and cut in as many portions as there are people around the table (the “tartes” are usually rectangular, and much larger than a traditional pizza). Each one eats its share while it’s very hot, with its fingers. The waiter leaves the wooden plate, and keeps bringing new “tartes” (just sliding them on the plate) at a 10 minutes or so interval, until you tell him to stop. And a nice (but not light) variation is the “tarte flambée gratinée”, where you add cheese (grated gruyère) on top of the tart.
And you’re totally right: it is even better when enjoyed with a glass of white wine.
Anyway, I love your blog, thanks for sharing so many wonderful recipes, and happy new year!

Great sounding pizza, its the first time I heard of a non-tomato base. Can’t wait to try it. Bacon, cheese and onion are a tasty trio, and with no tangy tomato to provide distractions:) Very well written and inspiring

Just a quick note: Original versions of this in Alsace (and all the surrounding areas in 3 different countries) are made much, much thinner than this. It is almost like a flatbread, even crunchy at places.

Nevertheless, nothing can beat the combination of creme fraiche, bacon and onions, so I would guess this works wonderful as a pizza too.

Mona — Nope! Still getting a ton of email. However, you’re the second person who has mentioned this in the last day… I’ll see if I can find out what is going on. [Update: Google has disabled my thesmitten account? Lovely! No idea why, but am elbows deep in toddler today, so it will have to get sorted another day. Thanks Google!] [Update anew: Should be working now.]

Kelly — I ordered it this time through Fresh Direct. They have thick cut bacon options.

Once I had a scallop and bacon pizza baked in the brick oven at Whole Foods. Tried to duplicate it at home with a complicated cream sauce as a base. This sounds easier and better. I’ll try it the next time we have some of those sweet little bay scallops from Edgartown.

There is nothing wrong with a little bitof bacon, as demonstrated by the excitement your post provoked. And you can never go wrong with a pizza. I stumbled on your post when I was writing a piece on a warm bacon salad. A perfect salad on a cold today, like today in Washington DC.

You’ve converted me to making my own pizza dough – and it’s been delicious! I usuallly cook it on a normal metal cookie sheet (no pizza stone) and the top always seems to be done before the bottom gets much colour to it. Is that a ‘me thing’ or an ‘oven thing’? Any tips for browning up the bottom?

@ Katy and Deb… I have used unglazed outdoor paving tiles for my pizza stone for YEARS!!! They are WAY cheaper, MUCH easier to store, and if one breaks… oh well. I get mine from Lowe’s, but anywhere would probably do. Also, you can have them custom cut them so you can have a complete shelf of tiles in your oven. Sometimes I even prop them against the back oven wall as well as along the sides so my oven is more like a true clay oven… I am making this TONIGHT, I already have the pizza dough in the fidge! Thanks Deb!

I have to say that it is perfectly alright to eat a dish like this in January — cause I did, just last weekend too! Ours was based on a Jacques Pepin recipe and we used a very simple flour-water crust (a little bit of yeast but we were too lazy to let the crust actually rise); our goal was to replicate the version at The Modern Bar which has a cracker-like crust. And it turned our wonderfully — not quite as good as the Modern’s but really excellent considering it took us about 30 min start to finish.

Regarding use of tiles instead of a pizza stone, I read somewhere that one has to carefully check the composition of the tile first. Apparently, some tiles have lead that may leech out during the cooking process. As there is probably no easy of finding out the composition, maybe natural stone is the safest option? In one of the Jamie at Home episodes, Jamie Oliver used a natural granite slab instead of a pizza stone.

Just as I was wondering to do with the Robiola Rocchetta I bought this week–who needs mozzarella for a pizza? Ooh, maybe with artichoke hearts? No bacon for me, but there are so many ways to enjoy pizza.

Oh Deb, you are very naughty tempting us in January with this! I also can never resist bacon and creme fraiche!! The best one I have ever eaten was the Tarte Flambe at the Modern. I have to order it everytime I go. I can’t seem to resist! That and a glass of Prosecco and I am very happy. Beautiful pictures!

I buy my thick cut bacon at Wegmans. Apparently the deli dept. got a new manager and he forgot to the make the order and I was out of the bacon for month. Boy did we suffer! But as of January 8th 2011 the bacon is baaaaaaaaaaack!

Did you know you can make your own crème fraîche? Super easy. In a CLEAN quart sized jar, put 1 cup cream with 2 Tbsp buttermilk (must be cultured buttermilk) and stir well. Cover the top with a cloth or paper towel (you want air to escape, but keep anything from falling in) and leave on the counter overnight (10 to 12 hours). The next day, you’ll have creamy creme fraiche! Keeps in the fridge for about a week- if it lasts that long.

@Chelsea, I have a friend who had a broken (wired-shut) jaw. He got tired of soup and baby food, went to his favorite restaurant/bar, and asked the waiter to have the bartender puree his favorite dish, pot roast and veg. They did it with no argument and he says it was delicious. How bad could this be, blended?

I love it. Just because it’s a new year doesn’t mean you have to put bacon eating on hold. It’s all about the moderation, right? (At least, that’s what I tell myself after cooking–and eating–a big vat of pork shoulder braised in port!) ;)

Folks who mentioned tiles as pizza stones and possible lead, etc: Unglazed Saltillo Quarry Tiles from Home Depot cost around $1.20 each and specifically say lead-free. They are prone to cracking so buy several and you’ll be set for awhile. Any glazed tile is a potential source of lead, so be careful to check that it is unglazed!

you know what’s so beautiful about this german dish? it’s one of those wher you can’t make it not authentic – everybody has a different recipe for it. My favourite vegetarian version has leeks and trace amount of edam cheese added to it.

I think the point that most people argue about is how much cream to add and whether or not the onions should be sauteed before baking. Either version is fine though.

Hey Deb! This recipe looks amazing and I want to try to make this with your easy pizza dough. However, since I haven’t made the dough before I wanted to know if your original recipe you posted for it makes the whole half pound of dough required in this recipe? Now I just need to convince my husband that not every pizza needs tomato sauce!

Try blind-baking the dough first next time. This way you’ll have thoroughly cooked crust, and you wont have to worry about burning the bacon. Also the onions could have been caramelized a bit more. Use butter to speed this up. You can also add a touch of red wine to them.

I just got back from a trip to Germany over the holidays and spent last week scouring the internet for a flammkuchen recipe to recreate my experiences for my family in the States–I even checked your site.:) Thank you so much for the post!

January is ALL about comfort food for me, regardless of new diets and resolutions. Pizza is the ultimate comfort ( we all eat it,all year round), and this sounds just perfect for a brutely cold night! Can’t wait to try it hopefully tomorrow!!

Still snowed in–one more day. I am allergic to tomatoes so white pizza it is. Bacon pizza sounds great. I like the crust extra thin and crunchy. This is on the menu and I find thick sliced bacon at Walmart and Kroger. Cook’s treat to eat the last few pieces of bacon.

As a woman who’s 18 weeks pregnant, I certainly enjoy this type of recipe right now! I’ve been craving all things salty (or sour). Bacon on a pizza slathered with creamy goodness so soon after the holidays? Why, yes, sign me up!

I quickly scanned the comments and didn’t see this comparison: trader joe’s sells a tarte d’alsace that looks a lot like this, though more proscuitto-like than bacon. And I did buy it for NYEve but we ended up having it a few days later as a light dinner (with a side veg), so it’s still January-friendly.

I made this tonight for dinner, with a couple of substitutions–love the flexibility! No creme fraiche in the house, so I blended about 1/2 cup plain yogurt with 2 Laughing Cow cheese wedges. I used up all the bits of pancetta and bacon from the fridge. SO GOOD.

We just had homemade pizzas tonight for dinner. My husband does them on a pizza stone on the grill, so good. Both had chicken, one was barbecued with onions, the other had grilled asparagus, roasted peppers and grape tomatoes.

I use the super cheap unleaded pavers (aka the thin bricks) from Home Depot. I think they were 10 cents each? Maybe 20? They’ve lasted forever and work fantastic. I love to roast a chicken on them. So good.

Hi, Ilove your blog, try to try alll the recipes…following the blog for 3/4 of a year now!!! Try the same with salmon and dill, it makes the perfect pizza!!! My whole family loves it and the my kids are 3 and 5 years old.
Cannot wait for your book !!!

Cape Cod — Too many! Lenz has a wonderful bubbly; Bedell has a great First Crush red, the kind of lightbodied red that we love on the North Fork (also available at The Modern, which has come up in this post’s a few times because they make a wonderful Tarte Flambee there and also because the owner of Bedell is on the Board at MOMA, from what I understand) and we became a little obsessed with a very dry Reisling named Coalescence at Shinn but under a different label, though from their main winemaker, if you can follow that.

Melissa — Oh man, I love Laughing Cow “Swiss” (yes, in quotes) wedges more than anyone with the access I do to excellent cheeses should.

Sara B — In the headnotes, I say that my main, simple pizza dough makes about a 10-ounce dough, so you’ll have two ounces extra. I even suggest what you can do with it. It involves Nutella.

In Kyoto at a very funky vegetarian restaurant I had a kimchee, potato, and soy cheese pizza that was so good I went back the next night just to convince myself it hadn’t been one too many Sapporo beers. I bet this will be wonderful.

I really like the idea of making mini tarts. Rolling out the dough for a flammenkuche into a large rectangle is an exercise in frustration (it is for me, at least), and this way you get more of the crisp, browned crust.

Wow! Yummy! I first had Flammkuchen in a Christmas market in Germany – your post brought back such great memories! Haven’t made any in ages, you’ve inspired me to get back in the kitchen. I’ve tried making them in an oven, and they’re still good, but I did have a go at a proper wood-fired oven once and they were just amazing!

Oh this looks sinfully delicious! Of course, I’ve started doing this awful calorie counting thing with a personal trainer and just for giggles, I had to check your recipe – at 4 servings, each comes in at just over 552 calories. And I want one. Or 4. Yummmmmmmy!!!!!!

Gosh……my mouth is watering while I look at those pizzas!! My hubby and I love pizza. Once a month I made pepperoni pizza and hawaiian pizza which are our favorites. I definately will try your recipe ;)…. thanks for sharing :).

Thanks Deb, whipped this pizza up last night – had to make my own creme fraiche as none available here, mixed it with soft goats cheese. I grilled it on my Weber Smokey mountain Cooker on a pizza stone – very impressed with your pizza dough!

We make pizza at least once a week (my mom always made it on Friday nights) and I have (sigh, so ashamed, by buying my dough at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s) but I just clicked on your dough and it is now on my do make list – Thanks! Your recipes never disappoint!

I found your blog about four weeks ago. The fact that I’m so very late to the party has fueled my obsession. I’ve been making a few new things a week and have loved them all. Tonight it was this pizza and the mushroom toasts for early cocktails. After cooking the lardons, and carmelizing the onions, I put not-too-much butter into the residual bacon fat and went on with the mushrooms. Delicious, beautiful and … did I mention delicious? Thank you for all of the recipes, photos and inspiration.

Looks yummy! I have to try this. I just got a few quarry tiles to bake on, and I love them! You won’t want to use Travertine because of the large holes, stuff gets stuck in them easily. Quarry tiles are unglazed terracotta tiles and they work wonderfully!

This inspired me to return to and old favorite recipe of mine and put the ricotta twist on it. I like to do a pizza with caramelized onions, pancetta, and fontina. But Saturday, on our usual pizza night, I decided to start with a layer of ricotta, sour cream, herbs, and spinach, and then layer on the caramelized onions and pancetta. Tasty, but your photos are always lovelier than mine.

i’ve been reading your blog for a few months now and i just have to say, its been really wonderful to get to know your kitchen and cooking ethic. ive been agonizing over the best way to make pizza at home and finally think ive hit on the right thing… an upside down preheated cast iron pan. it seems like the thing you would have and i thought id put it out there. you can actually achieve char on the crust. plus thanks for being inspirational – i too have a tiny kitchen (my oven and fridge cant open all the way!) – and it gets overwhelming sometimes to read books and blogs of folks with giant kitchens filled with state of the art and, on the other hand, seasoned-for-generations woks etc etc etc.

Sounds delicious. Love the photos, especially the cubed bacon one; for some reason everything tends looks much more adorable in tiny cube form. I’m excited to give this one a try, bacon and onions on a pizza will be amazing!

Hey Deb- I’m going to try your method sans bacon with soft goat cheese for reasons of Kashrut. I seem to have trouble getting a crispy crust unless I par bake first. What is your secret? I hate the par bake step, as I feel like it gives my pizzas a chewiness. Is it the thinness of the dough? The temperature? Thanks :)

deb, i looove your blog and i live for cooking. i used to make at least one recipe of yours a week, until now: i’m six weeks pregnant and can’t stop puking. i’m developing all sorts of food aversions i never imagined. yes, including bacon. sad. how did you manage to keep cooking and eating while expecting j?

I make a similar version of this with double cream (Devon cream) and mushrooms. The mushrooms are a great addition – especially when sauteed with the onions and a little garlic. Alsatian pizza is my all-time fave! Thanks for sharing your version.

I made this on Sunday and blended goat cheese and creme fraiche for the base. I also drizzled white truffle oil on top when it came out of the oven. Delish. I used the bacon fat leftover for my bison pot roast last night. Love your site.

Hi, I don’t know if this is still relevant to you, but I was looking at the “Build Your Own Smitten Kitchen” page and noticed you saying that you can’t find canisters like Ina Garten uses on her show. I found out that Anchor Hocking makes those exact ones called Heritage Hill Jars and they come as big as 2 gallons, just in case you’re still interested.

lina — I never had morning sickness. I’m sorry, I know it’s not fair. I didn’t have any appetite though (awesome for minimal weight gain!); I ate pounds and pounds of grapes and then, over the summer, so much ice that my husband still teases me. (I’d make him to go to the bodega and buy bags, because our ice cube trays couldn’t keep up. That bad!)

Katie — Thinness of the dough and the dough recipe used. I find a lot of store bought ones to have so much yeast that they puff and become bready even if you roll them paper thin. My recipes make thinner pizzas and hold back on the yeast a bit.

i make pizza every friday night for movie night. and, sadly, i have made the same kind for about 2 months running. i love this pizza!! i can’t wait for friday to roll around.
it never occured to me until christmas morning that leftover pizza dough makes out of this world cinnamon rolls! a little food for thought…

Made this last night with the BF in mind, as he has an undying love for both sour cream and ricotta. Apparently, he doesn’t really like caramelized onion. Ha. Me and the tot, however? Inhaled it. Though by the three year old’s third piece (my pies were about 10″), he ate all of the bacon, and declared “My tummy is full now!” Lucky for everyone else, mine wasn’t. (Waistline’s biggest enemy? Scavenging toddler leftovers.) My only complaint is that there is none left. I suppose I shall have to find another post-yoga snack… (What, pizza isn’t appropriate?)

this sounds so amazing! but… sadly, i have easy access to crème fraîche, fromage blanc, and lardons, but i don’t have an oven (as a student living in a dorm in france)! time to experiment with stove top pizza, i think…

I love the idea of making little pizzas. The big ones are so hard to manage when your trying to get them into the oven without a peel. I use the unglazed clay tiles for my pizza stone, too. They work great. I’ve had the same ones for years and years. I think I originally got this tip from Julia Child’s show.

Your non-uniform shaped pizzas look like artwork and mine look like a mistake. Maybe I should work on better lighting and styling when presenting the pizzas to my kids, or maybe I should just work on better cooking. You always inspire me. Thank you for an endless supply of food ideas and making us all want to cook more often.

I got an unglazed tile from the building store after Alton Brown recommended it. It was about $3.50 so I figured way less expensive to replace. But it’s never broken unlike the pricey pizza stones. Go figure.

I don’t have time to read through all the comments but first–YUM! Second, I buy UNFINISHED terra cotta or saltillo tiles from Home Depot and used them for pizza stones. I put them right in the bottom of my oven and just leave them there all the time.
It is key though to buy unfinished ones and to season them in the oven one time BEFORE using them a first time–just heat your oven to around 250 and leave them in there for a couple hours. This will burn off any residues leftover from when they were made and is supposed to help keep them from cracking. And they cost under a dollar each (last time I looked). If they crack, they don’t splinter/shatter and on the plus side, they don’t cost much to replace.

Ohhhh…You’re killing me. Like you said, January is supposed to be the month in which you behave. However, I’ve been on a non-stop eating binge, and this pizza looks too good to resist. Maybe I’ll eat this and THEN eat a salad-and-baked-chicken diet. Sure, I’ll do that.

I find so much pleasure making pizza at home. May favorite is Hawaiian pizza and it is just so easy to prepare. What is so amazing with homemade pizza is that you don’t have to pay for extra cheese (lol). Seriously, you don’t have to go in a crowded pizza house just to have a bite. I am just so lucky my family loves my cooking.

The other night I had some homemade pizza dough staring me in the face but not really any cohesive ingredients. Then, I remembered this post and thought hey, I can do something sort of like that. So, I softened some cream cheese, carmelized some onions and added some cut up smoked ham. Delish! Mine was the Miller High Life version compared to your Champagne versions, but thanks for the inspiration on an otherwise potentially blech plain cheese pizza night!

call me crazy but this is one of the dishes I give my husband while on his diet. It’s a favorite first tried with the apple slices and cheddar cheese. Of course I start him with a large salad,the pizza yes a glass of wine and after the dishes I pop 4 mixed and frozen chocolate chip cookies into the oven for a treat.We have changed nothing but the portions and the time it takes to eat I’ve used many of your recipes on his “diet” and I’m happy to say he has lost 32 pounds.

I tried this over the weekend and it was great. I had never used creme fraiche or fromage blanc before but it turns out I love them. Who knew? Thanks so much for sharing your amazing recipes. Up next…espresso cheesecake!

you are my hero! this is the first pizza dough i haven’t totally effed up! i tripled it and made a giant pizza in a 13x18x1 cookie sheet [thick crust or gtfo is what I say haha]. I used seasoned breadcrumbs instead of cornmeal because I didn’t have any. next time i’m cutting the salt down by at least half. other than that, awesome recipe!

Deb, as soon as I read this I knew I was making it asap! I did a batch of Sullivan Street no-knead dough for the crust, and splurged on really nice bacon for the occasion. I’ve noticed my husband doesnt really like my homemade pizzas whenever caramelized onions are involved, but yes, I make them often anyway. Its easy to tell where my loyalities lie.

Anyway I thought this was delicious. I only made three pizzas instead of four, so the crust was pretty hefty. I really liked it though. I topped each pizza out of the oven with arugula too. Thanks for another beautiful, inspiring post!.. I have leftovers packed for lunch. Score.

I first saw Andre Soltner on Julia Child’s show “Cooking with Master Chefs” ten or fifteen years ago. He made this same recipe but used a base of puff pastry instead of the pizza dough. It is still one of our most favorite appetizers. I usually make it on Valentine’s day and cut out heart shapes with a cookie cutter as a special treat. Everyone loves it, including the kids.

We made this last night and it was fantastic. I was fantasizing about making it again and putting an egg on it like the breakfast pizza. It was our first experience with fromage blanc, which is just so wonderful.

I was inspired by a combination of this post, your Potato Pizza post, and your Baked Potato Soup post to make Baked Potato Pizza using this recipe and adding thinly sliced potatoes with some light seasoning. I made two versions, one with the cheese and one without, but both ended up delicious. Thanks for the inspiration!

I know you received this request relatively often but….can we please be friend? What if you didn’t have to cook me anything but I just picked your brain on food, marriage, life, blogging and all that other good stuff? Regardless, my mouth is watering from this post. Thanks for sharing your brilliance.

I had never heard of Tarte Flambee before. I used your recipe as a starting point to write my own healthy spin on it. I substituted a homemade whole wheat pizza dough, used part-skim dairy and crispy prosciutto in place of the bacon. Sad to see bacon take a back seat to prosciutto, but in the name of calorie savings, the salty, smoky component was still there in full force. I was sure to give your beautiful blog a shout out! http://www.dietitup.com/2011/04/healthy-bacon-pizza-yesi-said-healthy.html

I just made this pizza. I used the “Really Simple Pizza Dough” recipe, but my dough did not rise very well until I set it on top of my preheated oven. After that, it was perfect. I used ricotta cheese and light sour cream, and the result was amazing! Different then any pizza I’ve ever tasted, but definitely delicious. We had a glass (or three) of sauvignon blanc with it. The husband loved it too!

i just had to make this after looking at the pictures. i’ve never made my own pizza dough and pulled this off on a Thursday night. i substituted 1/2 cup of white whole wheat flour. i didn’t have any ricotta so i mixed sour cream with goat cheese. i didn’t have any fancy bacon but had some leftover pancetta. then i topped the whole thing off with some smoked cheddar and spanish sheep cheese. we ate this with some sauvignon blanc and it was unbelievable. i will be making pizza again.

My parents lived in Alsace in the 70s and brought the flammekueche recipe home with them. It was always a special treat as creme fraiche wasn’t always available so we would make our own with heavy cream (35%) and a couple of tablespoons of buttermilk slightly warmed overnight until it thickened. We also used the french bread recipe out of the Joy of Cooking for the base and rolled it very thinly into whatever shape turned out. I think my favourite memory was eating it in Alsace at a country restaurant with a group of family friends, where they just kept bringing them out and kept track by marking how many we had on the paper table cloth as they did with the bottles of Gewurz we drank. So good!

I sometimes make a quick and easy version of this – take your desired amount of pita pockets (I use the store brand ones from WinCo), tear/cut them open so you have halves, spread cream cheese on them, top with onions, precooked bacon or chopped canadian bacon, throw into the microzapper on high for about 30 secs or put in the oven (on bare rack) for about 5 mins @ 350-400F – mmmm pita-flammkuchen…

Hi Deb! I’m living in Germany and have introduced all incoming visiting family from the States to flammkuchen…which they all adore! I was wondering…have you ever found a place back home that sells it/ships it/sells it frozen?? My family (and I’m sure others) are dying to get their fill back home! Thanks so much.

I just made this pizza using your Simple Dough Recipe. I substituted goat cheese for the fromage blanc simply because that’s what I had on hand. DELICIOUS!! This is the 6th or 7th Smitten Kitchen recipe I’ve made and this, like the others, does not disappoint!! It’s very easy too. . .I paired it with a big salad and homemade vinaigrette. Very nice Sunday night dinner!

I made this for dinner last night and it was delicious! Caramelized onions and bacon? Yum :) Everyone enjoyed it so much they didn’t even notice I used turkey bacon. I’ve never made my own pizza dough before and your simple pizza dough recipe was fantastic for a beginner! I will definitely be using both recipes again, thanks so much!

I just made this for dinner, it was delicious! I found creme fraiche and fromage blanc at Whole Foods, so I splurged and bought both of them for this recipe. I served it with a big green salad and generous glass of white wine, as suggested. It was divine. Thank you for showing that pizza doesn’t always have to topped with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce.

Flamkuchen is not pizza, it is so much better. There is no tomato sauce or chesse to overpower the flavour of the lovely ingredients. I’ve been living in a German part of Switzerland for almost 3 years now and Flamkuchen is my go to meal after a long day at work. That said I will often order it when in out for dinner and it never disappoints. Just like the sayings says, but altered, ”I can’t believe it’s not pizza’ because it’s not because it’s so much better.’

Oh yes.
Without the cheese, they taste almost exactly like the street food flatbreads that my wife and I got hooked on at the Christmas markets in Munich.
The booths there called them flecker’l. Thankfully, a merchant there told me that, if I wanted to find them in the states, to look for flammkuchen or tarte flambee.

When I interned for chef Ludo for his LudoBites 007 (in 2011), I was the one doing the tarte flambée… They were so good. The caramelized onion tartes had fresh grated botarga & thyme… I think I’ll get those ingredients and make it again soon. We did have a version that used bacon – it was the choucroute tarte flambée – with sautéed fingerling potato slices, sauerkraut, mustard mixed in with the cream, onion… and i can’t quite remember what else – i gotta look at the pictures… but those onion tartes were the best.

After my year in Germany, I now and then find myself craving Flammkuchen, and then I sigh and sulk a bit on the inside because I don’t have the wine I liked best for Flammkuchen on hand or the flaming oven to cook it in. This recipe gives me hope and practical possibilities…yay!